Letter from Manila - Santol - of course!

And talking of enforcing...

There's already a curfew on minors between 10pm and 4am started this week. And Du30's not president yet.

Yesterday, over a 100 were arrested on Quezon City, around 10km from here, for drinking in public, being shirtless and drug offences.

His latest speech on Saturday...

...Duterte also urged common citizens to police their own neighbourhoods, and that they should directly arrest criminals.

"Feel free to call us, or do it yourself if you have a gun," urged the president-elect. "I support you."

Duterte explained that common citizen who arrest criminals should bring suspects to a police stations. However, if a suspect resists, the arresting citizen can use deadly force.

"In an arrest you have to overcome the resistance of a criminal. And if he (the suspect) resists you can kill him," Duterte clarified.

The fun starts.

Sounds a good time to be selling guns and ammo, a sideline for the water shop perhaps?

When you said your other half arranged the money matters in the local fashion I take it that didn't mean paying that nice old lady in the square to make all the people asking for money go away?

Yes, the Philippines is a land of contrasts.

For example, we have a church encouraging procreation to fuel population growth whilst at the same time about to have a president who wants to make significant inroads into that number, but none is more stark than when it comes to banking.

Back in 2013, I opened an account with Asia United Bank, not because they were the best or the biggest, but because they would accept a signed and notarised lease document as proof of address.

And here lies the first contrast. All the others (including HSBC with whom I already had two account overseas) wanted a government issued identification, namely my Alien Registration Card which you can't get until after four months in country. The biggest irony being that the address on that is the one that you provide to immigration, with nothing to support it. Worthless then? Probably, but it’s the RULE.

Anyway, account duly opened so I could provide my new landlord with 12 post-dated cheques for the rent, which is the approved manner here.

There’s nothing special about the account, I get a cheque book, ATM/Debit card and full internet banking facilities. The only thing I can’t do yet are international transfers but no issue, I use my Hong Kong account for those. All this means that since December 2013, I have not visited a branch, happily undertaking all transactions on-line. And here’s the second contrast. Despite all the bells a whistles, you are also provided with a pass book for your account. Remember this.

So yesterday, I threw Pup 1 in the car heading for our daily Poo in the Park and pulled in at my local branch of AUB at nine thirty, parking in some shade directly outside the door and leaving all the windows down so I didn’t come back to a roast dog although at that time, the temperature was just winding up, not full volume.

With a cheery, "I'll be back in five minutes" I enter the bank, all sleek with blond wood and chrome and wander over to a little machine, enter my account number and tell it what transaction I want to do. It then gives you a queuing number – “Please wait until you are called”. I am the only other customer and there are six tellers, all staring intently at their computer monitors.

After ten minutes, with no discernible communication, the other customer walks up to the counter and does whatever he was there to do. He leaves. Nothing.

Five minutes later, I think nothing ventured and walk up to the same young lady. She starts to undertake my transaction. She asks for my pass book. Much tapping of keys ensues, followed by frowning and she then wanders off to consult a colleague.

Fifteen minutes go by, and the bank is now starting to fill up. None of the other tellers are remotely interested. She returns to the counter. I have a sneaking suspicion as to what is about to happen.

Yes, she has to print off every single transaction for two and a half years into the passbook. Or, to be more precise, the five passbooks, four of them now full, that I brought home with me.



I joke that the last time I had an account with a passbook, I was about 12 with a Post Office Giro account my mother opened for me. She doesn’t see the significance.

I left an hour later, the bank was rammed, five tellers were still on Facebook and the poor pup had decided Poo in the Car was his only option.

A land of contrasts indeed.

Y'see that was another contrast I forgot to mention.

I left the car all smelling of leather and stuff to came back and find it wasn't!

Following a trip to school this morning to get some new sew-on badges for my Bottle Openers blouses, I had a good hour with leather and carpet cleaner. She smells a lot better now but we'll see when it's been parked in the sun for half an hour whilst we have today's (non-distractional) Poo in the Park.

If the park is actually open. It's Independence Day on Sunday, when we mark the fact that the Spanish finally left in 1898. Admittedly, they were immediately replaced by the Americans who hung on until 1946 (if you don't count the bit where they were kicked out by the Japanese) so not really independent for very long. But let us not have the facts get in the way, it now means we can have an Independence Day on June 12 and a Republic Day which celebrates actual independence on July 4.

Anyway, the upshot is that Rizal Park, which Pup 1 kindy graces with his offerings, is the centre of the country's joyous festivities, with marches, fly pasts and all sorts of martial stuff, so they build stuff for the celebrations and may, or may not, have closed the park. We'll see.

Outside of the Great and the Good, the general population don't really give a stuff and will celebrate, in true Philippine style, by spending the day up a shopping mall. 

The drug guys had offered PHP20m for anyone taking out Duterte and his new police chief.

Seems no-one wanted to play, so it's been upped to PHP50m, around GBP750,000.

Du30 and his mate are boasting about it.

Good 'ere, innit?

Actually James, although I understand your cynicism towards elected representatives, this one smacks of at least half a truth.

Y'see with the current administration, any convicted "drug lord" could be fairly sure of buying his way out after a token period of time, free to pick up where he left off. Under the incoming lot however, that is unlikely to be an option and any day now you are far more likely to find yourself on the wrong end of something terminal. Therefore this could just be concentrating minds a little at the moment.

If they succeed, then the VP takes over and as she's a clone of the current lot, the status quo would return, so they've nothing to lose really.

I'm guessing that several have sort of clubbed together, if you will, hence the public knowledge. That and nowt remains secret for long here anyway.

So.
Ads in the paper offering to pay for termination.
Bays about to be full of bodies.
Fun place

Probably less corrupt than Europe

Independence Day Pt.2

So, how did it all go then?

A bit haphazard really. The way it had gone in the previous week's practice was as follows:-

1) Two helicopters, in line astern, approach Rizal Park from the sea and fly along its length
2) They peel off to join up with the others
3) Flypast of (9 or 7, depending!) helicopters now running parallel to the coast
4) Sometimes a flight of 9 high winged, prop driven trainers has joined in, but that’s not been every time
5) Switch the speakers on and pretend there's a flyover of FA50. Go out with a bang!
6) No idea on the 21-gun salute, they only practiced it once, around three weeks ago
7) The end

So at 8am I am on the balcony, binoculars in hand ready for the big show. Over Manila North Port I can see the flight of helicopters circling in a holding pattern.

One large mug of tea later and I can still see the choppers going round and round.

I make another brew and start to wonder about helicopter flight endurance times.

Tea finished, our heroes continue on their orbital path.

Suddenly, a flash of silver! Yes, it’s the mythical FA50 roaring in from the sea. Two seconds and it’s gone. Why was he first this time rather than the finale though? Good question. I think that either the gallon of Caltex Gold they’d stuck in was running low or the string broke, putting him out of communication with the ground, so he rolled in on time. It wasn’t his fault no-one else had done their bit, was it?

This seemed to galvanise everyone into action, the choppers split and did their thing and the nine trainers flew over, now (sort of) trailing red, white and blue smoke, all very lovely.

And the 21-gun salute? Well, the naval vessel sitting just offshore remained resolutely silent. Must have used everything up the other week. We can only assume that the replacement ammunition that should have been marked, “Soon” wound up in the “Later” pile and is still on the way.


               Do the Red Arrows need to worry yet?

It was now 10am and time for a Sunday morning cold one.

Anyway, if Beijing was viewing, that’s what you’re going up against in the South China Sea, so just watch it!

Oh, and I was wrong on the school. They fooled everybody. The girls came home Monday night with a letter for me to sign. Amongst everything else, it said the school would be closed on the Friday. Great, I thought, they can't even manage one week. However, for reasons never disclosed, they changed their minds on Thursday and did open Friday! New one on me that.

^^
...scared of Pull Max ....hehehe